Tragic Details About Celine Dion's Three Sons
Music superstar Céline Dion has dazzled audiences for decades with her powerful and emotional songs, including the love theme from "Titanic," "My Heart Will Go On," and her 1996 album, "Falling Into You," which won Best Pop Album at the 39th annual Grammy Awards. The Canadian singer may have an insanely glamorous life with her three sons, but that doesn't mean she hasn't suffered tragedies in between winning all kinds of awards, selling out concerts, and earning beaucoup bucks from her Las Vegas residencies.
Dion is the proud mom of three children: René-Charles Angélil, who has grown up to be gorgeous, and twins Eddy and Nelson Angélil, who are growing up fast. While being the kids of a multimillionaire sounds like a dream life, René-Charles, Eddy, and Nelson haven't had the easiest of journeys. From experiencing deaths in the family at an early age, to health concerns and anxious career aspirations, Dion's sons have experienced their fair share of misfortunes.
They lost their dad at a young age
Unlike many celebrity relationships that quickly fizzle out, Céline Dion and René Angélil were married for 22 years before he died in 2016 from cancer at the age of 73. At the time, René-Charles Angélil was 14, and his twin brothers, Eddy and Nelson Angélil, were only 5 years old. Losing your father around the same time you start going through puberty and high school adds insult to injury. While Dion is a caring and loving mother, her sons may have had questions they felt more comfortable discussing with their father, something they'll now never get to do.
Because Eddy and Nelson were so young at the time, Dion had to get creative in how she could speak to them about their father's death. In an interview with Katie Couric (via Yahoo! News), Dion shared she used the Disney Pixar movie, "Up," to talk about their dad's passing. "Papa is now with Ellie [the character from 'Up' who died in the beginning of the movie]; he went up," she said, adding how the people who go up end up living in the hearts of the people they've left behind. Dion also mentioned how Tinker Bell from "Peter Pan" helped their dad fly up. What a beautiful — although gut-wrenching — way to convey death to young children.
On the ninth anniversary of her husband's death, Dion shared a sweet tribute on Instagram. "Not a day goes by that we don't feel your presence, RC, Eddy, Nelson and I," she wrote.
They've had to watch their mom battle health struggles
In late 2022, Céline Dion received a heartbreaking diagnosis: She has a rare autoimmune disease called Stiff Person Syndrome (SPS). SPS can affect a person's muscles, causing stiffness or spasms, and isn't just regulated to one specific area of the body. It's a progressive disease, which means it's only going to get worse. "Unfortunately, these spasms affect every aspect of my daily life, sometimes causing difficulties when I walk and not allowing me to use my vocal cords to sing the way I'm used to," Dion shared in a YouTube video about her diagnosis.
Imagine your mom being an international superstar singer your entire life, but then it's suddenly all taken away from her and she can't do the one thing she was clearly born to do. That's probably how Dion's sons felt, watching the disease attack their mom. In an interview with Sunrise, Dion shared how frightened her children are, worrying about the fact that she could die from a disease just like their dad did. Considering how rare SPS is probably doesn't help alleviate the boys' anxiety. SPS affects one in every million people and it doesn't have a cure (via Cleveland Clinic).
René-Charles Angélil's journey with music has had its ups and downs
Céline Dion's eldest son, René-Charles Angélil, is clearly a chip off the old block when it comes to musical talent. Using his stage name, Big Tip, Angélil secretly recorded two rap songs in 2018 and posted them to SoundCloud. Those songs became the top two tracks on the Canadian SoundCloud R&B charts. Not too shabby for the then-17-year-old.
Angélil didn't initially tell his mother about his music until after the songs became a success, vowing not to go the nepo baby route and use his mother's endless rolodex of contacts to jumpstart his music career. Lyrics from his song, "Catwalks," include, "I've been living the high life, but it comes with a high price." Considering all the heartache Angélil's been through in a short amount of time, that verse hits home.
As someone whose mother is arguably one of the best singers of all time, it's understandable why Angélil didn't tell Dion about his work until after it was already out there. "It's kind of messed up, honestly," he told the Montreal Gazette. "I just felt like keeping it on the low." While Dion was, unsurprisingly, supportive of her son, Angélil eventually took a step back from music shortly after his mother's health began to decline. Are the two things connected? It's unclear, but if they are, it's heartbreaking to picture a young son having to care for his ailing mother while also putting his own dreams on hold.